The Exchange
by WillowTree91
Summary: After the Battle at Hogwarts the Weasley family are left to move on but one member has different ideas.


**A/N Hi! This a little different from my usual fics owing to the different characters but I couldn't not write this it's not fair what happened to Fred especially after what happened to George. So here it is, my version of the Battle Aftermath, just a little one-shot that's been kicking around in my brain.**

THE EXCHANGE

He wasn't there when his Father was bitten by the snake, when Ron was attacked in the Department of Mysteries, when Bill was savaged by Greyback, or when George lost an ear. He was there now and it took him two days, eleven hours, 46 minutes and 29 seconds to realise that he wasn't needed.

As Percy Weasley stood next to his younger brother's grave, he found himself looking around at his family's faces. His mother and father with their arms about each other; tears staining both their faces. Bill, with his wife of less than a year, looked much older than his 26 years, with the scars from Greyback's attack and from the pain which came with losing a brother. Charlie looked grim, he couldn't take his eyes off of the coffin as it was lowered into the ground. Ron and Ginny stood next to Charlie, holding hands with Hermione and sobbing into Harry's shoulder respectively. Percy swallowed, almost choking back the feeling of failure that threatened to overwhelm him. He couldn't even look at George, the person he failed the most aside from Fred, he couldn't bear to see the lost eyes and the down-turned mouth that had become the prominent features of the lone twin.

Percy focussed his eyes instead on the plain wooden box that contained his dead brother, he tried to look for any hint, any trace of his brother in the polished wood, but there was none. Fred would have wanted his coffin to be multicoloured, decorated, flashy, because that was his personality. The simple casket didn't suit Fred at all, it was more appropriate for someone like himself. And therein lay the heart of the matter.

Fred wasn't supposed to die like he did, that was Percy's place, Fred was supposed to live on and keep everyone smiling. Fred didn't betray his family, he wasn't meant to leave them, Percy was. Fred was a proper Weasley who looked after his siblings, Percy wasn't. Why then, was Fred the one in the ground and Percy the one above it; left to watch his family fall apart?

Percy thought about this for the remainder of the funeral, and during the sombre gathering afterwards and by the time the day had ended he still hadn't found an answer. Why hadn't he died instead of Fred? Fred would've known what to do today, to cheer everyone up, he and George would probably have set off some fireworks, or made some sort of joke about how he Percy had loosened up and the world had ended. Why? Why, did he have to tell that stupid joke? If he hadn't perhaps… Perhaps, ifs, maybes, might-have-beens, should-have-beens. All useless now, there was no way to change the past. Or was there? Percy's head shot up, not that anyone noticed. It would be dangerous, illegal, it would be going against everything Percy stood for… it would be what Fred would do. With that in mind Percy said his goodbyes to his family, if all went well he wouldn't be seeing them again.

He strode across the empty yard heading for the edge of the wards so that he could apparate, in his head he was planning it all out, what he had to do and how to do it. He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the soft voice behind him.

"Perce?" It the voice that had haunted him for the past two days.

'_You are joking, Perce… I don't think I've heard you joke since you were' _But it wasn't Fred, it was George and Percy felt guilty that even now he still couldn't tell them apart.

"You're not going anywhere… are you?" George approached warily as though approaching a dragon. Percy swallowed; he was a terrible liar.

"Just… just back to the flat." He tried to act and feel calm but his thumping heart and broken voice threatened to betray him. George eyed his brother.

"Yeah but you're not going like you did last time, are you?" Percy faltered, what should he tell him?

"No, not like last time," this time he wouldn't be coming back. "What made you think that?" George continued to eye Percy, taking his whole body language and Percy forced himself to remain calm and he stared right back at George with a questioning expression.

Once he was satisfied George's gaze softened.

"The way you said goodbye, you made it sound as though you're not coming back." Percy swallowed again, he could feel his ears turning red under the pressure.

"I'm coming back George," he said a little too quickly. "I promise." Percy gave his brother a sad smile, knowing that he'd have to break that promise, but consoled himself that if he succeeded he wouldn't actually have to make it. George returned the smile, with a ghost of the grin he used to wear.

"Good, I don't want to lose two brothers Perce, I couldn't bear it and I doubt anyone else could either, especially Mum." Percy gave him another tight smile at the thought of what his Mother would think but he shook that thought away.

"You won't George, just the one." And with that he turned and strode quickly away before George could delay him any longer, and as the darkness swallowed him he left behind a very confused George.

Instead of heading back to his London flat however, Percy travelled North to Hogwarts, to where the mistake occurred. The castle was lit against the backdrop of the Scottish mountains; it was being used as a temporary home for those who needed it. The former Head Boy kept his head bowed, walking fast in the long corridors, he had once strutted along. He saw many things as he made his way upwards; the classroom he had first kissed Penelope in, the Gryffindor common room that had become his second home, the corridor where fate had got it wrong. Memories assaulted him until he reached the Headmaster's Office, or rather Headmistress's Office as it was now. He passed the broken gargoyle and he stepped onto the moving staircase, he hoped McGonagall wasn't up there, he didn't need her to get in the way. He was lucky, she wasn't there, he breathed a sigh of relief and set about hunting through the office, he knew there had to be one here, he had seen when he was Head Boy; he had used it to get through his OWLs.

After half-an-hour of searching and he recovered nothing, he was beginning to think it wasn't there anymore that he had failed before he'd even begun. Then there was an almost silent _psst _and he spun round to come face to face with Dumbledore, or at least his portrait. He was smiling as he pointed to a cabinet over to the left which Percy had thought was locked. There he found it, a small sparkling hourglass on a fine gold chain. Percy smiled his thanks at Dumbledore, took a deep breath and he knew this was it, if he used the time-turner, he couldn't go back. For one moment he was afraid and then he suppressed that feeling, he was a Gryffindor, he was a Weasley, he could do this and he set the time turner back to 15 minutes before the mistake occurred, then he let go. He could feel himself moving back in time, he watched as people, blurs moved about him, he felt as though he was standing in a river as the water rushed past him. Then suddenly it stopped and Percy found himself alone in the office, even the paintings were deserted. He quickly stuffed the time turner beneath his robes and headed back down the moving staircase towards the corridor which he and Fred would be fighting in soon. He was careful not to be seen and he hid behind a tapestry until the time was right. This was going to take split second timing, he only had one shot at this and he couldn't blow it.

He watched as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy and another Slytherin boy flew out of the Room of Requirement, almost time. A couple of minutes passed and then Percy could hear it, the sounds of a battle getting closer, soon he and Fred came into view. He waited until the past him had told his joke and Fred had laughed and then he saw what he didn't see the first time, a jet of green light heading straight for his younger brother. He waited until just as the explosion happened and then he pushed his past self into Fred, knocking him to the ground and as he felt his body pass into nothingness he knew he had succeeded.

But he had miscalculated and somewhere in that split second something had happened that Percy did not intend and when the dust cleared Fred Weasley stood up and offered a hand to the very much alive Percy Weasley sprawled on the floor.

"Bit close that, wasn't it Perce?"

THE END

**A/N Hope you enjoyed it and please review, I love your comments!**


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